Zoning board OKs plans for former hospital

JAMIE PESOTINE/Staff Photographer
Dee Deakos, front left, and Ron Rossi, front right, question Kate Daye at a Hazleton zoning hearing Thursday on plans for the former St. Joseph's Hospital and an adjoining property.

A New York firm secured zoning approval for the initial phases of a project that will convert the former St. Joseph's Hospital in Hazleton into an assisted living facility and nursing school.

The Hazleton Zoning Hearing Board also granted a use variance for related plans to convert the neighboring Price's Dairy building into administrative offices.

The zoning board approved use variances sought by property Parvinder Chopra, of The Claremont Group - a firm that bought the hospital, parking lots and the former Price's Dairy building at 659 N. Church St.

The company is in the business of acquiring real estate in depressed markets and plans to open similar assisted living facilities in Illinois, Florida, Texas and Montana.

Zoning board approval on Thursday, however, is limited to the first phase of the hospital project - which involves converting an "L" shaped portion of the building that was used as a convent into a nursing school and an estimated 10 to 15 assisted living units, according to Kate Daye, a facility administrator for The Claremont Group.

The convent portion of the building fronts North Church Street and extends east along West 10th Street.

Residents would not require acute care or have severe mental issues and will have the option to come and go as they please, Daye said. The building will offer amenities such as a theater, a "restaurant" dining facility, two chapels, a coffee shop, beauty parlor and other features, Daye said. Residents can also drive their own vehicles or can use transportation provided by the facility.

When asked by zoning board members, Daye said developers are not in the market of catering to "low-income" tenants and have no intention of developing a halfway house.

"(Chopra) builds buildings for the FBI and CIA," Daye said when asked of projects undertaken by the property owner. "He doesn't build buildings for ex-cons. There's a zero percent chance it will be used as a group home or halfway house."

When completed, the assisted living facility will be named Clare Care - and Daye assured the zoning board that Claremont has no intention of offering drug or alcohol rehabilitation programs.

Applicants will have to return to the zoning board and secure approval for a future phase of the project that would convert the first two floors of the hospital into assisted living units, zoning board Chairman John Paletski said.

The zoning board cast two separate votes when approving the projects.

Plans for converting the convent portion of the hospital into a nursing school and assisted living units were approved with the stipulation that developers would have to seek approval from the zoning board for using the building for any other purpose.

Daye said plans call for making "zero" structural changes to either of the buildings and said renovations to the interior of the convent portion would be limited to painting, installing new furniture and related touch-ups.

Residents will not share rooms and because community restaurant and dining areas will be available not all of the "suites" will have a stove, she said.

When asked by zoning board Vice Chairman Ray Bast, Daye said the "average monthly rent" for similar assisted living centers in Pennsylvania ranges from $3,000 to $4,000 per month. She did not provide an exact amount of rent that Clare Care will charge, but said it could be within that range.

The nursing school will start "small" and developers have a few candidates in mind for running the program, including the dean of a local nursing program that had lost funding, Daye said. The program will be catered to small class sizes - while giving students the opportunity to work in the assisted living facility, she said.

Audience members Dee Deakos and Ron Rossi were the lone zoning hearing attendees who signed protest forms. Both sought - and received assurances - from Daye that the building would not accommodate mental health patients, low-income housing or be used as a drug or alcohol rehabilitation center.

Daye agreed with Paletski's assessment of describing the facility as an "elderly resort."

Future expansion would involve converting the first two floors of the hospital into assisted living units for a facility that would initially employ about 20 people - and expand to 115 employees when fully operational, Daye said.

sgalski@standardspeaker.com

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